Trophy Father
by KimiruMai
Summary: Things weren't really perfect after Buu, were they.


**Feelin like some fluff today. Father-son things :3 ENJOY!**

**Song Prompt: Trophy Father's Trophy Son ~ Sleeping With Sirens**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Trophy Father

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_Father, Father, tell me where have you been?_

A ten year old Trunks Briefs lay on his made bed, on top of the covers instead of underneath. His feet lay on his pillows where his head should have been, and his crystal blue eyes were open instead of closed. It was just past 1:00 in the morning, and though it was pitch black dark, Trunks could still see fairly well. Saiyajin eyes, he figured dryly.

Trunks was not an insomniac, not like…like his father. He was plagued with nightmares for a long time after Buu, but they had subsided. A nightmare was rare, to Trunks. Most of the time he had peaceful, nice dreams that people normally don't want to wake up from. So why, you ask, was he wide awake at one in the morning?

Well, that was because his father was missing.

Vegeta had disappeared over a month ago, and no matter what he did, Trunks could not track him. His father's power level was nonexistent, and he covered his tracks well. Trunks didn't even have a scent to follow. Son Goku couldn't help either; without Vegeta's ki to trace, Instant Transmission was useless. Despite this, Trunks refused to believe he was dead. Vegeta didn't just go off and get killed, not him. Had that happened, his Ki would have flared so dramatically you'd have to be dead to miss it.

But he still didn't know where he was.

Even more puzzling was the reason Vegeta had disappeared. There had been no argument between him and his mother, no battle with Goku gone pride-shatteringly wrong, nothing. Nothing. He had just disappeared. Trunks had asked his mother, who only would say that Vegeta had been having trouble in his sleep (not trouble sleeping, mind you, but trouble _in_ his sleep, which could only mean that the nightmares were back) but she didn't say what that had to do with anything. Vegeta had nightmares all the time, but he never _left._

And oh, how Trunks had searched. He had searched until he was so exhausted he couldn't fly, and Mr. Son had to carry him home. He had scoured every nook and cranny of West City, Satan City, Mount Paozu, and yet, nothing. Nothing to prove that Vegeta had ever been there, nothing to prove he might ever come back. Nothing that would tell him why his father had left, or if he'd done something to make him leave…nothing.

Trunks thought about Goten's father, who had left when Gohan was only 11, before Goten had even been born. He thought about how Goku had been gone for 7 years, just training, when he could have come back so easily…he wondered if it was a trait of pure breed Saiyajin men to leave their homes, their families, for so long.

Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes, but Trunks did not cry. Only when he had fallen into a fitful sleep did a single tear slide sideways down his face.

_Thump._

It was so soft, Trunks barely heard it. Had he not been half Saiyajin, he definitely wouldn't have. His eyes flew open and he sat up abruptly, looking around. He could tell by the stillness in the air that nothing was in his room, but the thump had sounded too close to come from his mother's room. His eyes narrowed - an intruder? If so, they picked the wrong house to mess with. Nobody broke in Trunks Vegeta Briefs' house. Oh hell no.

He clenched his fist and slowly rose to his feet, his bare toes just hovering above the ground; there was a creaky floorboard in his room, and he could never remember where it was. He slowly floated over to the balcony, where he'd heard the noise, and slowly raised his hand.

A dark shape moved, and without another thought, Trunks fired a small blast that would mortally wound any human easily. The blue ki collided with the shape, lighting it for a second. Trunks blinked and swore he saw a flash of tan skin and dark hair. He heard a soft grunt of annoyance, and that's when he felt the hidden Ki surfacing.

"Dad!" he cried.

"Shh!" a gruff voice hissed. "You'll wake your mother."

Trunks lowered his voice immediately. "Sorry. Dad…where've you been? I looked everywhere for you!"

Vegeta stepped out of the shadows, the light from the half-moon lighting his startled features. "Why?"

Trunk's eye twitched, a trait he'd inherited from the man in front of him. "Gee, I dunno, maybe because you were MISSING?!"

"Lower your voice, brat. I wasn't missing. I knew exactly where I was."

"Well, we didn't! I've been freaking out all month, Dad! Mom's been all depressed and it's all quiet around the house…You can't just leave without telling us! I thought you'd really–"

"Left?" Vegeta interrupted.

Trunks blinked, and noted that his father looked rather uncomfortable. His chin, normally held high, was a bit lowered, and his folded arms, which were normally lax with confidence, seemed flexed and rigid. He was embarrassed.

Trunks was quiet for a minute, then he snapped, "Well, goddammit, Dad, after all that shit in the Buu fiasco –"

"Watch your mouth –"

"- A kid get's scared sometimes! You left us once…" he trailed off quickly, staring at his feet. He pulled the longest of his bangs away from his face with his index finger, and Vegeta chuckled, very softly, at the small action. Trunks looked up and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"That was different," the Saiyajin Prince said serious again. "I was dead."

"That was a suckish thing to do, by the way –"

"So I've been told. Now you listen to me, Trunks Briefs." He paused, a bit dramatically, and Trunks swallowed as his father's princely authority started to shine through along with his usual sternness, as it did when he severely wanted to get a point across. "I've told you I wouldn't ever leave my family, and I'm a man of my word. Don't go thinking that just because I disappear for a while that I've abandoned you, you hear me?"

Trunks knew little about his grandfather. Not Dr. Briefs, of course, but the grandfather that had long before his father was his age. His Saiyajin grandfather. In truth, Trunks had always wished to meet the man, but his father so rarely mentioned him. When he did though, Trunks always detected a hint of respect…and a hint of bitterness. After asking his mother, she had explained that to try to save their planet, King Vegeta had sent Prince Vegeta to live with the tyrant Frieza, but the monster had destroyed the planet anyway. She would tell him no more after that, but Trunks had long ago drawn the conclusion that Vegeta did not want to be compared to the dead King, and that included when it came to fatherhood.

"You should have told us where you were going," Trunks said again, looking away and folding his arms in a very Vegeta-like manner.

Vegeta sighed and ran his fingers through his upswept hair (a style Trunks had tried and hopelessly failed to mimic many a time) and said, "I know."

Trunks's jaw fell open. Did his father just admit to being wrong?

"I left because I needed to sort some…personal things out. I needed to be alone –"

"Why?" the demi-Saiyajin demanded.

Vegeta growled low in his throat. "Trunks, you know about my past."

A lightbulb went off in Trunks's head. "The nightmares again?"

Silence was his only answer, and Trunks knew he was correct.

"Well, why'd you have to leave for so long then? What was different from all the other nightmares you've had before?"

Vegeta scowled. "You make it sound like I wake up screaming all the time. Hush." Trunks almost replied that he _did _wake up screaming every so often, but then he thought about it and kept silent. "I was sorting things out, that's all."

"Sorting things out."

"Yes."

"Dad, I just don't get what was so bad about this particular one –"

"Trunks," Vegeta snapped, "I almost killed your mother, alright? Stop with the interrogation."

Trunks gaped in horror, then screeched, "You WHAT?"

"Will you shut _up_? I was unconscious. You of all people should know it's possible to lash out in your sleep."

Trunks blushed, remembering once when he was 9. He'd been dreaming that he was fighting Majin Buu again (which was twice as terrifying because he wasn't Gotenks) and when his father had come to wake him up (for the first time in his life) Trunks had accidently punched him in the face. "I know…it just startled me. Sorry."

Vegeta rubbed his temple wearily. "I almost strangled her. I should be able to sleep peacefully with my mate without worrying about killing her. I left to achieve that serenity."

Trunks was quiet. He knew that his father loved his mother very, very much, so this probably disturbed the elder Saiyajin more than he let on. Vegeta had always been skilled at hiding any emotion, but Trunks always knew. If his sacrifice against Buu hadn't made that clear, then surely that look in his eyes whenever Bulma walked into a room had to…

"Mom really missed you," he said finally. He left the rest unspoken…_I really missed you too. _

"I know."

"Are you going to talk to her tonight?"

Vegeta shook his head. "I don't want to wake her."

There was a pause. "Yeah," Trunks said after a while, "She's been tired lately. And really cranky. You know, she threw up yesterday. It was gross."

Vegeta's eyes widened. Then he said, "Good to know."

"Okay…" Trunks scratched the back of his head, then asked, "Can we train tomorrow?"

A devilish smirk crossed his father's face. "Surely you didn't think you could possibly get out of it."

"'Course not," Trunks chuckled. There was another audible pause, and suddenly, Trunks ran up and threw his arms around his father's waist. Vegeta, not having his guard up, nearly stumbled, grunting.

_Is this what you call a family?_

"Go to sleep, boy," the Saiyajin grumbled, but he put his hand on top of Trunk's head.

Trunks hid his smile and did as he was told, and his father silently disappeared from the balcony into his own bedroom.

_Yes._

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_*Next morning* _

"What do you _MEAN_, I'm getting a baby sister?!"

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**Review!**

**~ KimiruMai**


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